GRENIKOS

GRENIKOS (Granicus) was a river-god of the Troad in northern Mysia, Anatolia (modern Turkey).

The River Grenikos had its headwaters in the foothills of Mount Ida and emptied into the Hellespont near the Mysian town of Priapos. The major neighbouring rivers were Aisepos (Aesepus) to the east and Rhodios in the west.

PARENTS

[1] OKEANOS & TETHYS (Hesiod Theogony 340)

OFFSPRING

[1] ALEXIRHOE (Ovid Metamorphoses 11.762)
[2] PEGASIS (Quintus Smyrnaeus 3.300)

ENCYCLOPEDIA

GRANI′CUS (Granikos), a river god of Mysia, is described by Hesiod (Theog. 342) as a son of Oceanus and Thetys. But according to Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Graikos), the name Granicus was derived by some from Graecus, the son of Thessalus.

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Homer, Iliad 12. 18 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"[After the Greek had departed from Troy :] Poseidon and Apollon took counsel to wreck the wall [built by the Greeks], letting loose the strength of rivers upon it, all the rivers that run to the sea from the mountains of Ida, Rhesos and Heptaporos, Karesos (Caresus) and Rhodios, Grenikos (Granicus) and Aisepos (Aesepus), and immortal Skamandros (Scamander) and Simoeis . . . Phoibos (Phoebus) Apollon turned the mouths of these waters together and nine days long threw the flood against the wall, and Zeus rained incessantly, to break the wall faster and wash it seaward. And the shaker of the earth himself holding in his hands the trident guided them, and hurled into the waves all the bastions' strengthening of logs and stones . . . and turned the rivers again to make their way down the same channel where before they had run the bright stream of their water."

Hesiod, Theogony 337 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) :
"Tethys bore to Okeanos (Oceanus) the swirling Potamoi (Rivers), Neilos . . . Nessos and Rhodios, Heptaporos and Haliakmon (Haliacmon), Grenikos (Granicus) and Aisepos, (Aesepus)and Simoeis [in a list of rivers]."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 300 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :
"Atymnios (Atymnius), the goodly son whom Pegasis (of the Spring) the bright-haired Nymphe had borne to strong Emathion by Granikos' (Granicus') stream."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 762 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Alexiroe, daughter of two-horned Granicus, secretly, its said, on Ida's shady mountainside bore Aesacus."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C.
• Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th - 7th B.C.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D.

ROMAN

• Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.